Activision Inc, the Mountain View, California games software developer that has been moving upmarket into education and business applications, has been quick to capitalise on the interest generated by Apple Computer Inc’s HyperCard file-based multi-media applications development system for the Macintosh – Apple calls it Stackware – coming up with two Stackware programs, Focal Point and Business Class. Business Class is designed to turn the Mac into a powerful desktop travel planning tool. According to Activision, it enables the intending traveller to access thousands of travel facts on countries around the world, including currency exchange rates, transport timetable, the current time, climate, holidays, tipping, customs, language and so forth. A built-in telephone interface provides auto-dialling of the phone reservation systems of international airlines, hotels and car rental agencies. And once the trip has been planned, the complete itinerary, maps and other travel documents can be printed out. It costs $70. Focal Point is described as a customisable time and information management system, providing tools for organising the working day. It features a daily appointments diary, address cards, outgoing and incoming phone logs, a spreadsheet, graph and invoice generator, phone dialler and other desktop accessories that can be mixed, matched and tailored to the user’s needs – and if the exact one doesn’t exist, it can be created with HyperCard. An applications launcher gives a fast entry point to any other Macintosh application or document and back; it costs $100; both ship in the fourth quarter.
